514 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



don't care for extra PKOLIFICNES3. 



Please send me a one-dollar Italian queen. We do 

 not care for great prolificnesp, as we do not keep 

 many colonies. E. II. McClymond. 



Templeton, Armstro ng Co., Pa., Aug. 31, 1883. 



[And I believe you are the first, friend M , who did 

 not care particularly about great prolificncss. It 

 isn't hardly " Young-America" like.] 



For the 75c. inclosed, send by return mall a smo- 

 ker, and greatly oblige me, for I shall get to be a 

 regular smoker of the pipe, though it makes me 

 sick. T. H. Trice. 



New Providence, Mont. Co., Tenn., Sept. 1, 1883. 



[And so, friend T., you have been using the pipe 

 because you had no bee-smoker? Well, I tell you 

 we will hurry it up, if things are in as bad a shape 

 as that.] 



THE HONEY-PEAS. 



How are your p:as? My bees arc getting, from 

 those planted near me, some very fine honey, but 

 the season is so wet that the yield so far has been 

 small. The honey is beautiful in color, and has a 

 peculiar but pleasant taste. T. J. Hopple, M. D. 



Trenton, Tenn., August 23, 1883. 



[I am sorry to say, ours didn't get planted. When 

 we find some enthusiastic young botantist to take 

 charge of our grounds, and develop these new hon- 

 ej'-plants, wc hope to do better.] 



hopes not blasted. 



I do not wish to be put into the Growlery, because 

 I think it is all right. " All things work together for 

 good," etc. From 40 colonies we have not had honey 

 enough for our own table, and even now we have 

 none in condition to take. We have had an abund- 

 ance of wet weather, and I think this is why we get 

 no honey. We had a swarm yesterday, and the indi- 

 cations arc good for more soon. It is late; but if we 

 have a good honey season through Aug. and Sept., 

 they can have plenty of winter stores. 



J. M. Harris. 



Cedartown, Polk Co., Ga., Aug. 7, 1883. 



PURPLE PIBEWEED, ETC. 



/ipiS^URbees are doing well in the honey business. 

 %M They have swarmed only once apiece this 

 — season, but they are storing the finest honey. 

 I wish I could send you a nice piece. There has been 

 a succession of honey-plants since March, and now, 

 since our ten days' rain, the clover has started up 

 f resb, and will last till frost. I inclose some seed, 

 seed-pods, and blossoms of the finest honey-plant I 

 have ever seen. In the center of each blossom 



there is a drop of honey. We call it flreweed here. 

 I don't know the botanical name for it. Can you tell? 

 It begins to bloom in June, and continues in bloom 

 till the last of August or first of September. 

 Our buckwheat is a white shower of bloom now, 



and has been for two weeks. One of our swarms 



came oui May 23d, and filled both stories of the Sim- 

 plicity hive, and have half filled another upper story 

 which we put on when we took the first one off, July 

 16th. I thinK every one in the Simplicity hives will 

 fill both stories before frost. 



Our neighbor, Mr. B. F. Smith, has had extremely 

 good luck with his bees this season. He had six 

 stands last spring, and they have increased, by 

 swarming, to 31, and two left that he did not save, 

 making 36 in all, and he has buckets on for surplus 

 honey, and they will probably fill two each, as the 

 first buckets are full now. Another neighbor, B. F. 

 Hay\vard, has not done so well. He uses the box 

 hive, made of cedar, and seven of his new swarms 

 left for parts unknown. I think the strong smell of 

 the cedar was the cause, as it has been very hot 

 here this season — hotter than ever before. 



Tell Blue Eyes, if she were out here shi could 

 gather Howcrs long after the ground is covered with 

 snow where she lives. Mrs. Nelson Kelley. 



Ferndalc, Whatcom Co., Wash. Ter., Aug. 7, 1883. 



Thanks for kind words, my friend. The 

 flower is purple fireweed, or Emlohium an- 

 gustifoUum. On page 26, Jan. No. for 1881, 

 yon will lind a full account of it, and a state- 

 ment of the enormous amount of honey it 

 secretes. It goes by the common names of 

 mooseweed, bloodweed, etc. W ill you please 

 send us some seeds, if not too much trouble? 

 It is called fireweed, because it so commonly 

 springs up after a fire, and very likely we 

 shall need to cover the seeds with ashes, to 

 get the best results from it. 



AN ENCOURAGIXG REPORT. 



Our first swarm of bees this year came out the Ist 

 day of June. They have filled 18 two-poimd sections, 

 and thrown out two swarms. The first was a nice 

 large swarm; it came out the 31st of July. They 

 have filled the lower frames, and we have put on 

 sections. The last one c.ime out the 31th of July; it 

 is a small swarm. Is that not doing pretty well from 

 the 1st of June, without fdn. or comb to begin on? 



One colony that came out about the 1.5th of June 

 has filled 56 two-pound sections. One last-year's col- 

 ony sent out one large swarm the 1st of June, and 

 then another one the 8th. We accidentally killed 

 the queen, and put them back. From that time we 

 have taken 70 lbs. of honey in frames. If we had 

 had an extractor we could have done better; but 

 when we took the honey, comb, and all, from them, 

 they hid to make their comb before they could fill 

 it with honey. 



We have had a long run of white clover this sea- 

 son. The bees are beginning to make dark honey. 

 Mrs. S. R. Hunter. 



Kendalville, Iowa, Aug. 13, 1883. 



SPIDERWORT. 



July and August Gleanings received last night. 

 It is pleasant to see its familiar face a^ain. The spi- 

 der wort Mrs. Harrison speaks of in the Juvenile for 

 July is not the cleomc or spider Hower that we cul- 

 tivate for the bees. It is a native wild flower here, 

 grows about 3 ft. high, sky-blue blossom with 3 pe- 

 tals; closes in the middle of the day; have never 

 been able to find seed on if, though it springs up 

 here and there as though seed had been dropped. 

 Some years, bees just swarm on it; but this year 

 clover is so plentiful with us they do not look at it. 

 Mrs. S. Sykes Wilson. 



Penrose, 111., Aug, 31, 1883. 



